Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-22
THE Heavens Opened"
HEAVEN THE GALLERY WHERE
GGD GATHERED HIS TREASURES.
"THERE is NOT A MAN IN THIS
HOUSE TO-DAY so ISOLATED IN
LIFE, BUT THERE is SOME
ONE IN HEAVEN WITH
WHOM HE ONCE SHOOK
HANDS"
BRAVE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST WILL HEAR THE
CARBINES CLICK.
SEE STEPHEN IN HIS DYING PRAY.
Err.
Dr.. Talmage's Sermon Sunday, June 18th.

DR.. Talmage's Sermon Sunday, June 18th.
BROOKLYN, June 12.-This morning at
the Tabernacle the Rev. T De Witt Tai.
mage, D. d., expounded appropriate pass
ages of Scripture, after which the eongre-
cation sang the favorite hymn, "There is
rest for the weary" The reverend doctors
text was Acts vii, 5000: "Behold I see the
heavens opened, and the Son of Man stand
ing on the right hand of God. Then they
cried out with loud voice and stopped
their ears, and ran upon him with one ac-
cord, and cast him out of the city, and ston-
ed him; and the witnesses laid down their
clothes at young mans feet, whose name
was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, call
ing upon God, and saying, LordJesus, re-
ceive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and
cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. And when he had said
this he fell asleep" The preacher said:
Stephen had been preaching rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand it.
They resolved to do as men sometimes
would like to do in this day. if they dared,
with some plain preacher of righteousness
kill him. The only way to silence this
man was to knock the breath out of him.
So they rushed Stephen out of the gates of
the city, and with curse, and whoop, and
below they brought him to the cliff, as was
the custom. when they wanted to take away
life by stoning. Having brought him to
the edge of the cliff they pushed him off,
After he had fallen they came and looked
down, and seeing that he was not yet dead,
they began to drop stones upon him, stone
after stone, stone after stone. Amid this
horrible rain of missiles Stephen chambers
up on his knees and folds his hands, while
the blood drips from his temples to his
cheeks, from his checks to his garments,
from his garments to the ground; and then,
looking up. he makes two prayers-one for
himself and one for his murderers: Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit" that was for him
self. ''Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge;" that was for his assailants. Then,
from pain and loss of blood he. swooned
away and fell asleep.
want to show you to-day five pictures.
Stephen gazing into heaven. Stephen look
ing at Christ. Stephen stoned. Stephen in
his dying prayer. Stephen asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into heav-
en-. Before you take leap you want to
know where you are going to land. Before
you climb ladder you want to know to
what point the ladder reaches. And it was
right that Stephen within few moments
of heaven, SHOULD be gazing into it. We
would all do well to be found in the same
posture. There is enough in heaven to keep
us gazing. A man of large wealth may
have statuary in the hall, and paintings in
the sitting-room, and works of art in all
parts of the house, but he has the chief
pictures in the art gallery, and there hour
after hour, you walk with catalogue and
glass and ever-increasing admiration
Well, heaven is the gallery where God has
gathered the chief treasures of His realm.
The whole universe is His palace. In this
lower room where we stop there are many
adornments; tessellated floor of amethyst
and blossom, and on the winding cloud
stairs are stretched out canvas on which
commingle azure, and purple, and saffron,
and gold. But heaven is the gallery in
which the chief glories are gathered. There
are the brightest robes. There are the
richest crowns. There are the highest ex-
hilarations. John says of it: "The kings
of the earth shall bring their honor and
glory into it." And see the procession
forming, and in the line come all empires,
and the stars spring up into an arch for the
hosts to march under. They keep step to
the sound of earthquake and the pitch of
avalanche from the mountains, and the
flag they bear to the flame of consuming
world, and all heaven turns out with harps
and trumpets and myriad voiced acclama-
ton of angelic dominion to welcome them
in, and so the kings of the earth bring
their honor and glory into it. Doyou won
der that good people often stand like Ste
phen, looking into heaven? We have great
many friends there. There is not a man
in this house to-day so isolated in life but
there is some one in heaven with whom he
once shook hands. As man gets older,
the number Of his celestial acquaintances
very rapidly multiplies. We have not had
one glimpse of them since the night we
kissed them good-by and they went away;
but still we stand gazing at heaven. AS
when some Of our friends go across the sea,
we stand on the deck, or on the steam-tug,
and watch them, and after awhile the hulk
of the vessel disappears, and then there
is only patch of sail on the sky, and soon
that is gone, and they are all out of sight.
and yet we stand looking in the same direc.
tion; so when our friends go away from us
into the future world we keep looking
down through the Narrows, and gazing and
gazing as though we expected that they
| would come out and stand on some evening
cloud, and give us one glimpse of their
| blissful and transfgured faces. While you
long to join their companionship, and the
years and the days go with such tedium
that they break your heart, and the viper
Of pain, and sorrow, and bereavement keeps
gnawing at your vitals, you still stand, like
Stephen, gazing into heaven. You wonder
if they have changed since you saw them
last. You wonder if they would recognise
your face now, so changed has it been with
trouble. You wonder if, amid the myriad
delights they have, they care as much for
you as they used to when they gave you a
helping hand and put their shoulder under
your burdens. You wonder if they look
any older; and sometimes, in the evening
tide. when the house is all quiet, you won
der if you should call them by their first
name if they would not answer; and per-
haps sometimes you do make the expert
ment, and when no one but God and your.
self are there you distinctly call their names,
and listen, and watt and sit gazing into
heaven.
Pass on now, and see Stephen looking up
on Christ. My text says he saw the Son Of
Man at the right hand of God. just how
Christ looked in this world, just how He
looks in heaven, we cannot say. A writer
in the time of Christ saws. describing the